Home Sweet Flat

With the paperwork and the transfer of funds all in order, John moved into our home away from home today, a two-bedroom flat on the "first floor" (our second floor) of this building:



No period charm here - poof go all the daydreams about thatched cottages - but the flat is fully furnished, down to a toaster and a vacuum cleaner, and is only a three-minute walk from the school. John has promised to send interior photos tomorrow, so stay tuned.

As far as school is concerned, let's just say that this job is going to be a challenge. The Ramsey School consists of students from 11 to 16 years of age. John will be teaching computers to grade 10's and 11's, and math to grade 7's. He will be meeting 13 classes of students over a 10-day cycle, and will be working in four or five different rooms scattered around the four-building campus. It is an understatement to say that this is not at all like life at Jarvis Public School.

It looks as though the major difficulty of working with this bunch of students - especially the grade 10's - will be discipline. They are going to have to learn that in Mr. Taylor's classroom, we don't send text messages on our cell phones or listen to MP3's, and we pay attention when the teacher is speaking. I was full of foreboding listening to John describe these kids, but he doesn't really seem all that fussed. "Give them time," he says, "and they'll soon see I'm here for the long haul."

I guess that's what 30-odd years in the classroom can do for a person. I'm just glad that person is not me!